POPStarter Revision 13

[ShaoliAss]

Envoyé par shmoo

krHACKen, unfortunately this last PROTO version you made available (WIP_06_PROTO_20171003) is not initializing, and POPS is sending me back to uLE. With the version "WIP_06_PROTO_20170703" it works normally. I tested with Megaman Legends 1 (USA) and Megaman 8 (USA), I used "uLE 4.42d" and "uLE 4.43a", via HDD and USB.

Can you please test using the debug mode ?

[antonioks]

Envoyé par krHACKen

It cannot be done with the POPStarter ELFs on your SMB shares I guess...
Move your SB. ELFs from your SMB device to your USB/MC/HDD, launch them with uLE/wLE.

EDIT : ...Or if your ELFs are on your PC, perhaps you can share them with RadHostClient, use wLaunchELF/NetFS to connect and run the ELFs from host...


Pas faisable avec les ELFs de POPStarter dans tes partages SMB je pense...
Déplaces tes ELFs SB. de ton SMB vers ton USB/MC/HDD, lances-les avec uLE/wLE.

Merci beaucoup, mon ami.

Il y a des jeux qui ne suffisent pas à courir dans le popstarter, il faudrait les trier, tapez Mortal Kombat Trilogy (quand il fait une pause sur le jeu dans le combat, il perd le son et bloque le jeu), Star Wars The Phanton menace au début du gameplay), Brave Fencer Musashi (black screen lock au début du gameplay), Soul blade / Soul Edge (lacunes plus lentes dans les modèles et ralentissements dans certaines phases), Doom et Final Doom (ralentissements), un câlin mon cher ami et succès toujours.

[krHACKen]

Envoyé par shmoo

krHACKen, unfortunately this last PROTO version you made available (WIP_06_PROTO_20171003) is not initializing, and POPS is sending me back to uLE. With the version "WIP_06_PROTO_20170703" it works normally. I tested with Megaman Legends 1 (USA) and Megaman 8 (USA), I used "uLE 4.42d" and "uLE 4.43a", via HDD and USB.

Do you have a conf_elm.cfg file in your devices ? If so, merge its contents to conf_apps.cfg and delete conf_elm.cfg.

[shmoo]

krHACKen, thanks a lot for the tip about the "conf_elm.cfg" file. I removed it from memory card and Megaman Legends 1 plays fine. I tested the troublesome cutscene too and this version jumped it automatically, as you said.

ShaolinAssassin, thank you too. I was going to post the photo of debug mode, where the game crashed early in the boot, but in the meantime, I ended up reading krHACKen's suggestion about removing the "conf_elm.cfg" file.

Many thanks to both of you, Krhacken and ShaolinAssassin for your attention.

[antonioks]

krHACKen le popstarter fonctionnera toujours avec OPL Loader avec conf_apps.cfg dans la partie applications? ou Popstarter va-t-il être totalement incompatible avec les raccourcis dans OPL Loader? C'est une question que le personnel me demande tout le temps et je n'ai pas de réponse concrète à passer. Un câlin.

[krHACKen]

Envoyé par shmoo

I tested the troublesome cutscene too and this version jumped it automatically, as you said.

Thanks for the feedback

Envoyé par antonioks

ou Popstarter va-t-il être totalement incompatible avec les raccourcis dans OPL Loader?

Totally incompatible with OPL. POPStarter cannot run from OPL (official and unofficial versions). Even if the ELFs are listed in conf_apps.cfg (APPS menu).

[antonioks]

Envoyé par krHACKen

Thanks for the feedback


Totally incompatible with OPL. POPStarter cannot run from OPL (official and unofficial versions). Even if the ELFs are listed in conf_apps.cfg (APPS menu).

Merci beaucoup pour la réponse, je suis allé chez les gars, j'aime popstarter, j'ai un ELF individuel, afin que vous puissiez utiliser la version dans un jeu différent de la version d'un autre jeu, laissant la version qui exécute le mieux ce jeu, vous avez un plan de menu pour le Popstarter, qui pourrait apparaître les couvertures des jeux? un câlin et un succès toujours.

[El_Patas]

Envoyé par krHACKen

No new TROJAN files needed. The old ones activate the rewritten compatibility modes, $COMPATIBILITY_0x## in CHEATS.TXT too.

Aha, i see thank you.

Envoyé par krHACKen

I haven't tried the other versions, but the French release plays the cutscenes no problem.

I see, well then others versions needs confirmation.

Envoyé par krHACKen

Thanks for confirming.

About the mini stutters of Colin McRae i not confirmed it, just saying
in a conditional way that it could be great if is really fixed,
but still needs confirmation.

Envoyé par krHACKen

You mean, what does $CODECACHE_ADDON_0 do ? It removes a function call from the codecache (codecache = recompiler output). That function basically makes snapshots of the codecache chunks and tells the recompiler which chunks to recompile, depending on the VBLANK, SIO status and stuff... V-Rally and CMR2 somehow cause it to loop, wasting clockcycles and stalling the execution.
Most game don't work with $CODECACHE_ADDON_0 in CHEATS.TXT, because parts of the codecache aren't renewed as they ought. So, do not activate $CODECACHE_ADDON_0 with all your games. Same for $COMPATIBILITY_0x04. Only use them when it's needed.

Yes, this is to what i'm refering, thank you very much for your explanation.

Envoyé par krHACKen

Thank you for testing the games and reporting the DW 2003 freeze. I tried to debug it. Unfortunately the ENTIRE RAM gets filled with garbage data when it crashes, and I could not track down the origin. The game suffers of a massive memory leak I dunno where it comes from.
And this was displayed lol :

You are welcome, is a pity, but thank you very much for having tried to fix it.

Envoyé par krHACKen

- Workaround to POPS not handling CDDA tracks pregaps/pauses, specifically for Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II and Ninja. One remaining messup on TR2 though : cutscenes (not FMVs) aren't synced with the audio, and the gap between audio/video gets worse as the cutscene is runnin, due to animation slowdowns. TR1 looked fine when I tried it. Ninja audio should start ~2 seconds too early or too late, because of non-existent pregaps.

This means that the games of Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II and Ninja, they
have now the CDDA audio working?

Envoyé par krHACKen

- Did something for the PAL releases of Team Buddies but can't remember what. Perhaps that has something to do with the PAL patcher issue that was reported over at ElOtroLado...

Umm...but you tested first the PAL versions of Team Buddies, i'm not sure
that the user of ElOtroLado he are right that the problem of this game
is caused by the PAL patcher.
Because there are reports that this game works fine loaded through USB
and SMB, i suspect that the problem with this game is about the speed
of the internal HDD like the game Breakout.
But now i don't know if you did any type of fix on it, needs to be tested i
suppose.
This game as a specific spanish version with the ID of (SCES-02986).

Envoyé par krHACKen

- Proper LibCrypt key injection for NFS: Porsche 2000. Both the UK and the other release have the same volume descriptor, but different keys. POPStarter wrongly used the same key for the two versions, because of the VCD identifier design. I got that problem solved with a little trick. Now the race should stop resetting every 12 seconds (the actual LC protection), since the magic word is valid.

No more freezes in both versions of NFS: Porsche 2000, great! and
the game itself plays fine?

Envoyé par krHACKen

- Added $MUTE_VAB to mute VAB/VAG/VB+VH based sounds/music on games. May be useful for these old games which output distorted SFX, wrong audio samples or stupid noises.

This is some internal fix, or the $MUTE_VAB is for use in the CHEATS.TXT?

Envoyé par krHACKen

- Added $WIDESCREEN $ULTRA_WIDESCREEN and $EYEFINITY. Does not deal with stuff like HUDs, texts/fonts, menus, 2D backgrounds...

Thank you very much for this, from what i see this is just an approach
or experimental right?

You are planning for put this prototype as the new beta 18 or you continue
making protoypes?
I don't know if is good provide this prototypes to all the people if they
are not stable, but in the other hand if the people do not test it is not
possible know the wrong things.

Thank you very much for make this prototype and for all your work.

Best regards.

[shmoo]

Envoyé par El_Patas

I see, well then others versions needs confirmation.

El_Patas, about Metal Gear Solid USA version (SLUS-00594/00776), all cutscenes plays fine with WIP_06_PROTO_20170703. I haven't tested with the last PROTO, but it's possible the game has no problems (except for the some slowdown in some areas).

[krHACKen]

Envoyé par antonioks

vous avez un plan de menu pour le Popstarter, qui pourrait apparaître les couvertures des jeux?

Nope, I'm not planning to make one. POPStarter is the last PS2 project I'm maintaining.

Envoyé par El_Patas

This means that the games of Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II and Ninja, they have now the CDDA audio working?

Yes.
Jolek reported that TR2 has the CDDA working at ASSEMblergames, with the expected cutscene issues.

Envoyé par El_Patas

Umm...but you tested first the PAL versions of Team Buddies, i'm not sure
that the user of ElOtroLado he are right that the problem of this game
is caused by the PAL patcher.

If my memory serves me right, all the PAL releases had problems with loading levels/menus, from HDD, USB and SMB. $NOPAL helped to pass the first loading (the one before the main menu), but the game still hanged loading some levels.
With the integraded fix, the game should work without the need of $NOPAL.

Envoyé par El_Patas

No more freezes in both versions of NFS: Porsche 2000, great! and the game itself plays fine?

Jolek repoted that it boots. I played it a little and it did not crash.
Though, I noticed that the cars have glitches when shown in the menus after playing. No glitches in game it seems...

Envoyé par El_Patas

This is some internal fix, or the $MUTE_VAB is for use in the CHEATS.TXT?

Yes, it's for use in CHEATS.TXT like the other $ things.
I don't use this internally (as an integrated fix), because who knows, perhaps I or someone else could fix the VAB issues properly. $MUTE_VAB is not a fix, it simply mutes the VAB audio output.

Envoyé par El_Patas

Thank you very much for this, from what i see this is just an approach or experimental right?

It is a first approach. I haven't studied the GTE that much.
The current hack is multiplying SX2 by 0.75 (or 0.76, can't remember). It makes the vertex ratio out of bounds for most games, and so you may encounter missing textures and 3D objects if the game rendering area is too low for this widescreen hack.
Yet, I do not know how/if it can be tweaked from the GTE emulation, without making game-side render fixes.

Envoyé par El_Patas

You are planning for put this prototype as the new beta 18 or you continue making protoypes?

Honestly I'm in a bad mood right now, and I'm considering fixing the reported bugs, releasing revision 14 and stop updating it...

Envoyé par shmoo

El_Patas, about Metal Gear Solid USA version (SLUS-00594/00776), all cutscenes plays fine with WIP_06_PROTO_20170703. I haven't tested with the last PROTO, but it's possible the game has no problems (except for the some slowdown in some areas).

, thanks. So yup, the cutscene crashes probably vanished with the cumulative POPS bugfixes from 2017/07/03.



EDIT: @all Jolek has reported this :

Envoyé par Jolek

I've also notice that in some FMV (eg TR2: Core Design intro, Die hard Trilogy: Fox Interactive intro)
sound seems to crackle with Prototypes 20171003 and 20170703 (don't have other protos) through USB.

With POPStarter Revision 13, WIP 06, OBT 17 (2017/01/28) everything is fine.
Maybe other USB driver has been added to these protos?

Can anybody confirm this ? And if possible, compare the results with HDD/SMB ?
The drivers haven't been changed. It could be either one unpredictable oddball USB issue, or one of the POPS bugfix wasting too much clock cycles on MDEC...

Quelqu'un peut confirmer que les FMVs déconnent en USB avec le dernier proto, comparé à la bêta 17 ? Et si possible, voir si ça le fait aussi en HDD/SMB ?